Battery, Haste Street and Telegraph Avenue

At about 4:10 p.m., Berkeley police officers came across a large crowd that had gathered. Several pedestrians told police that there was a fight. As the officer approached, she saw the involved parties being separated. She was told the fight started when the victim got out of his vehicle and was attacked. The attacker “pushed the victim to the ground and started hitting him.” The victim sustained non-life threatening injuries. Police arrested the attacker at the scene on suspicion of several violations, including battery and public intoxication.

Felony Assault, Ohlone Park

Two men got into a fight in Ohlone Park, 1701 Hearst Ave., at about 6:45 p.m. after an incident during a basketball game. Police said Clarence Bailey, 44, of San Pablo picked up a rock and punched a 57-year-old Berkeley man in the face with it. Police arrested Bailey and the other man declined medical attention after receiving non-life-threatening injuries.

Felony Battery, 1700 block of Derby Street

At about 10 p.m., police responded to a domestic disturbance on Derby Street. According to police, a brother punched his sister and knocked her unconscious after getting into a fight about “family issues.” Police said the brother fled. A family member called police to report the incident and took the sister to the hospital for care. She suffered serious non-life threatening injuries as a result of the incident. Police were unable to find the brother.

I appreciate the follow up article. It’s not clear to me that the data support the “slightly more violence than usual” claim. I used your crimemapping link and looked at the same number of days in the last few months. In November, there were 19 assault/battery incidents not counting domestic violence calls.

In December the count was 8, not counting domestic violence.

Obviously my data set is too small to make any big pronouncements, but unfortunately it doesn’t appear that 8 in a week is unusual.

Bill N

I also note that the police were called or present in each incident and that the assailants were caught in 2 out of three assaults. I look at this crime mapping link often and wonder how the data is collected? Might be an interesting followup article sometime.

guest

Thank-you for doing this research. The “more violence than usual” rang false to me as well. I’m glad to see that I was correct.
I’m wondering if perhaps Berkeleyside would consider creating a new category for crime, since the new reporter seems to be mainly focused on that subject.
There is something to be said for reporting ALL the news, but perhaps not every item is “front page” material…?

PragmaticProgressive

I drew a slightly different conclusion. Ignorance about how much thuggery affects our city is widespread. I’m happy to see more coverage but I want it to inform and not mislead so that we can press city officials to do a better job.

emraguso

Really all I meant was that three assaults/battery incidents in one day is not necessarily that typical. But definitely a very small sample. I wasn’t trying to make any broad claims here — it was just surprising to see that many incidents in one day. That’s why we followed up with police about it. As it turned out — they all seemed to be very different types of incidents, and unconnected.

PragmaticProgressive

It’s a fair point about three-in-one-day specifically.

What I personally found surprising was that 8-in-one-week is the low side of normal. That strikes me as unacceptably high.

emraguso

We’d need to do a much broader analysis to get clarity on what is normal, I think. To complicate matters, these can represent such a broad range of incidents. Thanks for providing the link you provided.

emraguso

We’d need to do a much broader analysis to get clarity on what is normal, I think. To complicate matters, these can represent such a broad range of incidents — from just the threat of violence to actual violence, from incidents with strangers to domestic violence. Thanks for providing the link you provided.

PragmaticProgressive

Great, I look forward to reading what you uncover.

emraguso

I’m not sure how quickly this will happen; I didn’t mean to suggest it’s something we can analyze. It would be quite difficult without a lot of information from BPD. But a broader BPD crime report should be coming out from the department in the not-too-distant future. Perhaps it will address this issue.

The Sharkey

How sad that violence is so commonplace in Berkeley that some folks think beatings aren’t important enough to be “front page” news.

Gun Owner

I can’t believe that people still think that possession of a human hand or fist is safe or useful in any way. How often are people murdered just because a fist happens to be nearby and available or convenient to use?
Laws allowing people to own human hands or fists are out-dated and do not represent modern times, or modern needs. Anyone who believes they need to own one in order to protect themself from tyrannical elements has a screw loose.

Guest

. How many of these assault victims died. Would it have been the same if they’d been shot? Do the math.